Improvement in self-weighing carts



E. BLACKMAN.

Cart Scales;

No. 36,631. Patented Oct. 7, 1862.

Witnesses:

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIc ED\VIN BLACKMAN, OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT,ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JAMES S. TAYLOR, OF SAME PLACE.

EMPROVEMENT IN SELF-TWEIGHING CARTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,631, dated October7, 1 1312.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN BLAOKMAN, of

' Danbury, county of Fairfield, in the State of Connecticut, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Cart-Scales or Self\Veighing Carts; andI do hereby declare that the following is a full andexact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon.

In the drawings, Fighre l is a view of the invention as it appears whenthe scales are not used. Fig. 2 represents it in the act of weighing aload.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willdescribe its construction and operation.

In the drawings, A represents an ordinary two-horse or two-oxen cart.

B is the tongue of the cart.

X are metallic journalboxcs attached to the axle of the cart.

C is the platform, connected by a steel k nifeedge pivot, b, to the mainsteelyard-lever E, which is connected to the journal-boxes X by asimilar pivot, a.

D is the adjustable prop at the end of the tongue, and is pivoted at dto the smaller steelyard, F, which is pivoted at c to the metallicjournal-box 2'.

G and H are the balance-weights.

c and f are hooks for holding the platform 0 and prop D up out of theway, as shown in Fig. 1, when the cart is in motion. h-h are guide loopsnear the ends of the steelyard-levers E and F. The levers E and F arepivoted and marked proportionally in pounds, &c., as in the ordinarysteelyards. It will be seen that the platform C is the fulcrum for thesteelyard E, and that prop D is the fulcrum of the steelyard F, whilethe cart and its contents is the weight operating upon them both, andthat the weights GH are the power that makes equipoise.

In operating my invention, when it is desired to ascertain the weight ofthe cart and its contents, we unhook hooks c and f, thus releasingplatform C and prop D. Here let it be observed that the distance betweenthe pivots and lower ends of the platform and prop is an inch or sogreater than the radius of the cart-wheels, so that when the cart issupported upon the platform and prop the wheels cannot touch the ground.hen platform C touches the ground, (as at .4, Fig. 1,) the cart ispulled forward a few inches, the resistance being at .2, until theplatform is made to assume a vertical position, as shown in Fig. 1. PropD is then vertically adjusted, and the whole weight of the cart and itscontents is then thrown upon the fulera C D. The balanceweights G and IIare then adjusted upon the two steelyards until an equipoise orequilibrium is indicated. The two sums then indi cated by the two scalesare then added together, and the sum resulting will be the weight ofcarts and contents.

Instead of using the steelyard F and prop D at the end of the tongue, Imay iiud it convenient to substitute a strong spring-scales suspended ina suitable manner from the cattle used i ndrawing the cart. 4

My device can also be readily adapted to one-horse vehicles.

At an expense of but a few dollars my invention can be applied to coal(and other) carts, so that purchasers can weigh the coalat their owndoors, and thus avoid a constant source of complaint. In the coal-yard,too, the coal can be shoveled directly into the cart instead of firstupon the platformscales, and then into the cart.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

The steelyard E and platform C, in combination with steelyard F and propD, (or spring-scales suspended from the cattle,) when constructed andapplied to a cart substantially in the manner and for the purposeshereinbcfore set forth.

In testimony that I claim the above I hereunto set my hand in thepresence of two wit= nesses.

EDWIN IELACKMAN.

lVitnesses:

ROGER AvERILL, WILLIAM H. ITANFORD.

